Could an odd patch of rural land be perfect for Jim and Nadia Mann’s tiny house project?

PLOT WATCH: Mike Dade investigates

WHO Jim & Nadia Mann

WHAT An isolated rural plot

WHERE Suffolk

Jim and Nadia Mann have been smitten with the idea of creating a tiny house, having seen some inspiring examples from the USA on television. But where to build one? A conventional plot would be too big and too expensive for their limited budget. They’ve spotted an odd corner of unused rural land – could this be the right sort of location for their uncommon project?

Planning for tiny houses

When considering a static building, as opposed to a mobile structure, the main challenge to this in the UK are the national minimum space standards, which many councils formally adopt into their planning policies. These regulations are based on traditional layouts. They don’t entertain the level of innovation that goes into designing a tiny house. According to these guidelines, such designs would provide sub-standard accommodation and so would very likely be refused planning permission for that reason alone. There is also the question of where to build a dwelling of this kind, as the normal planning restrictions would still apply, and exemptions to stricter policies are unlikely to be made just because of the small size of such an innovative property.